Going the Distance Gilbert Baker: An Interview My History of “Change” at Seas of Change with the Father of the Penn Rainbow Flag

Volume 6| Issue 1 | Winter-Spring 2017 The Clinician The Clinical Doctor of Social Work Newsletter The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice

Clinical Doctor of Social Work 2016 Cohort

From Bottom Row Left: Kay Colbert, Maria Balintona, Laura Vega, Maureen Rosenplanter, Noelle Ciara, Corey Hirsch, Ebony Speakes-Hall, Regina Miller

From Top Row Left: Caroline Fenkel, Jennifer Clinkscales, Rick Azzaro, Heather Evans, Manuela Mage, Patty Inacker, Richard Barton, Zachary Holtzman-Conston

The Clinician is a Student and Alumni Run Newsletter | website: www.sp2.upenn.edu/publications/the-clinician/?pubview=true Volume 6: Issue 1 CONTENT

3. Director’s Message Lina Hartocollis, PhD, LCSW

4. The Clinician Going the Distance The Clinical DSW Newsletter By Donna M. Wampole, LCSW; Amy Page, LCSW; and Manuela Mage, LSW EXECUTIVE EDITOR Amy Page, LCSW 6. Gilbert Baker: An Interview with the Father of the CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Rainbow Flag Manuela Mage, LSW By Manuela Mage, LSW Donna M. Wampole, LCSW

9. PAST EXECUTIVE EDITORS My History of “Change” at Penn MaryAnn A. Groncki, DSW, LCSW By Jeffrey N Jin, ACSW Marni Rosner, DSW, LCSW

11. GRAPHIC DESIGN & LAYOUT Seas of Change MaryAnn A. Groncki, DSW, LCSW By Donna M. Wampole, LCSW We would like to take this opportunity to 14. thank everyone who has contributed to Alumni News this edition of The Clinician.

A very special thank you to Dr. Lina Hartocollis for her ongoing support and contributions to The Clinician. Work published in The Clinician is not copyrighted by the newsletter. Publication in The Clinician does not limit the publication of work submitted and published in the newsletter in other venues. Opinions and ideas expressed by the contributors are their own and not necessarily those of The Clinician editorial group, the School of Social Policy & Practice, or the University of Pennsylvania. Submissions may have been edited to conform to newsletter style and format.

2. The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Lina Hartocollis, PhD, LCSW

This fall marks the 10th anniversary of the social work practice doctorate. I’m looking at the photo I keep on my desk of our first class of DSW students (below), the intrepid pathfinders who, back in 2007, helped us launch our program at Penn and usher in the practice doctorate as a new degree for our profession. Those fourteen graduates - Margaret, Kielty, Nicole, Tracy, Cynthia, Danna, Laura, Jack, Lloyd, Jane, Eric, Heather, MaryAnn and Val - hold a special place as the first DSW cohort.

Our 10-year anniversary will be an opportunity to celebrate every one of our eight cohorts of talented alumni and their incredible accomplishments. We have big plans for a kick-off celebration at the October Council on Social Work (CSWE) annual program meeting in Dallas. We’ll also be ramping up our efforts to “give back” to and engage our alumni by offering networking and professional development opportunities. We’ll start by assembling a Penn DSW alumni advisory board that will help plan events like free continuing education workshops and other exciting activities for our DSW graduates across the country.

As the DSW program grows nationally, we are also working to expand our global presence. We’ve partnered with the NEVET Greenhouse of Context-Informed Research and Training for Children in Need at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, on comparative research aimed at developing culturally sensitive interventions for children and families who have experienced psychological stress and trauma. Our two Penn/NEVET DSW students, Tarah Keeley and Brie Radis, are participating in a research project that will compare groups in the US and Israel that represent differences in race/ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. Four Israeli NEVET students are collecting and analyzing data on Ethiopians, Russian Jews, Muslims, and Haredi (Ultra-orthodox) Jews. Our students here in the US are focusing their dissertation research on African American and lesbian families.

Last fall our students were offered the opportunity to travel to Israel to meet the Israeli students and attend a conference on child welfare. This summer, we’re terrifically pleased to host the four Israeli students—Lital, Rivki, Netanel, and Shelly—here during our June campus immersion experience.

We anticipate that the Penn/NEVET partnership will be one of many new initiatives and collaborations that will further strengthen the DSW program - nationally and globally - as we move into our second decade. Stay tuned!

The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) 3. GOING THE DISTANCE By Donna M. Wampole, LCSW; Amy Page, LCSW; and Manuela Mage, LSW

The decision to make the leap back into the role of a student is never for the faint of heart, especially when the role is that of a student in a doctoral program. However, one doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania is making that leap a little easier for its students. Penn reintroduced its Doctorate of Clinical Social Work program in 2007, setting the precedent for additional universities to offer the advanced practice program. In 2015, Penn offered its first combination online and brick-and-mortar program, offering an innovative track for clinicians who wish to advance the skills of clinical practice and academic knowledge while also embracing online technology that allows for a flexible program to be offered to students country- and world-wide.

Nineteen cohort members embarked on a journey of higher learning in August of 2015, establishing themselves as the first DSW cohort at, Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice to utilize a balance of on-site classes, hosted during scheduled immersion experiences, with twice-weekly classes held via the Zoom program. Zoom, a licensed online communications system allows professors and students the opportunity to engage in face-to-face lecture and discussion, small group work held in break-out sessions, and individual class consultation and project work. As a result of this technology, students have the scheduling freedom needed to attend class and to gain knowledge without negotiating the additional commuting times or relocation needed to attend conventional schooling. Zoom technology has also been used for student representative meeting attendance and, for one author, guest lecturing for the Master of Social Work program at Penn. In addition, one professor within the program was able to be part of the program solely because Zoom allowed for off-campus teaching at a time when she was unavailable to be present in Philadelphia. As noted by Lina Hartocollis, Dean of Students and Director of the Clinical DSW program, the distance learning format has allowed for access to an Ivy League program for individuals “located at various distances, multiple locations...even active military members.” Even those students who were attracted to the DSW program at Penn before they knew it would be delivered primarily online have expressed appreciation for the convenience it provides. Students report that the online format has allowed them to continue employment and to maintain family schedules with relatively little disturbance. Each of the students interviewed identified the ability to attend classes and communicate with professors while traveling or during nontraditional work hours as one of the creative uses of technology within the program. Another benefit identified by students was the fact that classes could easily be recorded. Thus, if a student must miss class, that student can watch the recording in order to catch up on missed material.

Despite the innovative delivery method of courses, the time-honored reputation for academic rigor associated with the University of Pennsylvania remains the same. Johanna Crocetto, a student in the 2015 cohort, identified learning directly from “leading experts in the field” of social work as one of the highlights of attending the DSW program. Katharine Wenocur, another member of the 2015 cohort, states that she was initially attracted to Penn’s program because her experience attending the MSW program there had shown her that Penn has “a commitment to quality social work education regardless of the format.” She also reports that participation in the program has enriched her “professional identity,” by allowing her to fully inhabit the role of scholar-clinician in her work.

When on campus, the DSW cohort engages not only in classroom lecture and dissertation work, but also social outings including campus tours, dinner at World Cafe Live, and most recently, a professionally- guided walk of Philadelphia’s host of locally and internationally designed murals.

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4. The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) GOING THE DISTANCE Donna M. Wampole, LCSW; Amy Page, LCSW; and Manuela Mage, LSW Continued From Page 4

Lina and DSW Coordinator Jeff Johnson-Curry have worked to welcome all cohort members to both Penn and to Philadelphia, knowing that the bulk of cohort time will be spent away from SP2. As a result, distance learning participants, as compared to past brick-and-mortar cohorts, are offered time to experience a campus climate and the culturally rich surroundings of the city, while not having to be in a hurry to converge onto the Caster building on a hard-pressed, weekly basis.

This promotion of social relationships among cohort members seems to be working quite well, according to several students in the program. Emily Masciulli, a student in the 2015 cohort, cites the combination of the on-campus immersion experiences and the twice-weekly online courses as “foster[ing] a very supportive environment which allows me to feel connected to my classmates.” Another member of the 2015 cohort, Brie Radis, describes the benefits she has gained from developing positive relationships among classmates, stating that the students are “an integral support system” for each other. Johanna cites the unique combination of students who live across the country as part of the success of the program.

Although attending a combination online/in-person academic program has many benefits, the system is not perfect. Students cited occasional challenges with technology that interfere with the learning process. The speed at which the program moves was also cited as a concern, particularly as many students maintain employment and have children at home. Additionally, some courses (such as Statistics) are more difficult to navigate online than the discussion- or lecture-based courses. Finally, while the program does approximate the experience of classroom discussions, students report feeling that some aspects of face-to-face conversation are lost in an online format. However, some of the students interviewed noted that these issues were addressed by Jeff’s technological savvy and, as 2015 cohort member Emily Treat put it, “the true sense of respect, scholarship, and fraternity within our cohort.”

Members of the 2015 cohort were asked what advice they might give to individuals considering attending or teaching in a hybrid online-in-person program. Treat recommends that potential students remain open to the idea that an online program can, indeed, be academically rigorous and deserving of respect. Johanna, Brie, and Katharine each recommended that potential students gather as much information about the program as possible to determine whether it will fit their lifestyle and academic needs. Johanna further recommends that students inquire into the technical support available to students and faculty at other institutions offering an online program, as this is necessary for successful implementation of an online academic program. For those interested in teaching via an online platform, Brie recommends that instructors consider learning styles and academic needs of all students. She also recommends that instructors explore the strengths of online learning as well as ways in which the drawbacks of such a program might be addressed.

The nascent hybrid format in the DSW program at Penn seems to be a success thus far, according to the students interviewed. The program will no doubt continue to grow and change to fit the needs of students and faculty, a testament to the adaptability and sensitivity of Lina and other faculty members at Penn.

The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) 5. GILBERT BAKER: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER OF THE RAINBOW FLAG By Manuela Mage, LSW

Gilbert Baker has been a very active and visible presence in the LGBT movement for over 40 years. One can easily take things for granted and overlook the pain, the risk, and the courage that it takes for social change to happen. It is incumbent on us as clinicians to know the history, the macro aspects of the people we serve, and the symbols and languages that are used within various social justice movements. Our individual clinical practices are predicated on larger movements and communities. Although maintaining awareness of the context of social justice movements has always been important, now, more than ever, we need to rethink our response to efforts to halt much of the progress that has been won with the lives and work of many people. More than ever, we need our studies of clinical theories to interact with our studies of social movements. It is in this light that I asked Gilbert Baker, an old and dear friend, as well as a radical Gay man and proud self-identified Drag Queen, to sit for The Clinician.

Walking into Baker’s apartment, located in the lower part of an old Harlem townhouse, is to walk into a haven of color, warmth, and creativity. On a cold day shortly after the New Year, Gilbert, hands full with a new conceptual art project/protest (a powerfully jarring and historically evocative one), welcomed me into his home and we sat down for the habitual cup of coffee with some cookies he had just baked.

That was essential Gilbert Baker, the same man who, in 1978, made the first flags for the Gay parade, thus giving the world the now-ubiquitous Rainbow Flag. An unequivocally recognized universal symbol of the LGBT community that, in many countries, is still a forbidden symbol whose use can put a person in jail or invoke a death sentence. This interview does not do justice to the warmth and generosity, the sense of humor, the deep and gentle tone of Baker’s voice, his comments at times intercepted with many laughs. There is also a seriousness to Gilbert, an intent that speaks to the traumas of growing up gay in a conservative family in Kansas during the 1950s, of being bullied in school, fearing for his life, and standing up - often alone. Gilbert was later drafted into the military and chose to become a nurse as an alternative to killing other men. He was stationed in San Francisco, a blossoming city full of music, art, and many movements, including the Gay movement. He bought a sewing machine, learned to sew, and thus was born Busty Ross, Gilbert’s alter Ego and body politic.

We started the interview with the following question: Why a Rainbow flag? Below is a series of excerpts from the interview.

Gilbert: Flags are powerful symbols. They unify people around a cause, they create cohesiveness and identity. That is why countries have flags, and their symbols are a universal language that can be understood by all. We had the Pink triangle, which was used in the Holocaust, always reminding us of death and oppression and the Nazis. The rainbow is love, diversity, color, representing the diversity in our [the LGBT] community.

Me: You never made it proprietary. Did that help in making it more wide spread?

Gilbert: I could never hold on to a symbol that represents a movement, a people, an expression. But I have had a fabulous life. I have traveled all over the world, gave one to President Obama, and it is part of the

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6. The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) GILBERT BAKER: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER OF THE RAINBOW FLAG By Manuela Mage, LSW Continued From Page 6

Gilbert: permant exhibit at MOMA. Art changes the world. Look at Guernica and the power it conveys.

Manuela: Last time we sat at this table over coffee, life did not seem as bleak, and you were talking about the post Orlando/Pulse world where communities that don’t often work together wanted to create a more powerful movement to reign in the obsession with guns. The picture is quite different now. Could you comment on that?

Gilbert: Oh yeah! I was devastated, when Trump won. I cried for a week. All that, that’s gone. Roe vs. Wade, that’s their goal. They want to take it back to states’ rights and after that, they’ll reverse every single progressive victory of the last 30 years. Gay marriage, even sodomy laws, the last of which was rejected not too long ago, in 2007. Americans love bullies and guns. Hitler only had radio and the beginning of television. Trump is out of control. He is a narcissist and I thought about leaving but then I decided to stay and resist. We’re talking about resistance. And I don’t see it…yet. I mean, people marching in the streets and waving flags and banners and screaming, that’s good! It’s not the same thing as overturning cars and burning buildings. [Gilbert was referring to both the San Francisco riots, which happened after the murderer of the first openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk and of Mayor Moscone was acquitted, and the riots in cities throughout America after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered, which included urban centers being burned]. That’s not the same thing as general strikes and shutting down everything. We haven’t seen that yet!

Me: Do you think we’ll see it?

Gilbert: NO! And if we do it again it will be manipulated as the Reichtag fire was. The last thing we need now is a big fire, where a big building gets burned down and next thing you know, we have martial law. And then, I don’t know! I think a lot of it has to do with the level of comfort people have. Now, young people have always been the engine for big radical movement for change. But I’m not young, so I don’t know

Me: Do you see this new generation of being capable of that?

Gilbert: It could be. Sure, if they start turning into cannon fodder, if the new jobs plan for American teenagers is to go get a gun and go to war. I hesitate to think that I know because I don’t. The other thing is that there aren’t as many young people. When I was young in the late 50s we were the Boomer generation. I am more concerned about the aging of this population. They keep saying youth this and youth that, but they’re forgetting that there’s a huge problem with people aging. And you know, they’re dying, in often lonely, terrible circumstances, health care is a huge issue. Medicare, Medicaid, they’re going to put restraints on that, if not outright repeal and privatize everything. It’s the plan. Rich lives, poor dies.

Me: Out of this, what gives you the strength to continue, to be engaged politically, continuing to be involved in doing art, sewing away?

Gilbert: Anger…

Me: Anger?

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The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) 7. GILBERT BAKER: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER OF THE RAINBOW FLAG By Manuela Mage, LSW Continued From Page 7

Gilbert: Yeah, I get mad. Rage.

Me: Yet you create beauty and color.

Gilbert: That’s what art is for, for me. Art is my way of expressing myself. And I make lovely things and I make provocative things that are scary. The creative process is the way that I channel my anger and rage. Art can change the world. Again, Guernica, the painting, for example. One great provocative piece of art can change the world. What you do creatively can really count, whether it’s painting or music or other forms.

Me: The Trump victory was a major blow as you mentioned before.

Gilbert: Oh yeah! The end of democracy? All my old-school ideals have been replaced by something that I have only begun to understand. As I said, I deal with it by making shocking art. And sometimes beautiful things. Beautiful always wins, I think.

Me: Returning to the theme of the Rainbow flag. There’s this conservative, I would even say Christian, movement to take back the flag.

Gilbert: AAAAHHHH, I’m sorry but the Rainbow flag is gay. Got that cornered for about 40 years. And you want to take back the flag? March yourself down to a kid’s toy store. Which is why it works so beautifully for us. We’re everybody. And the flag is the flag, not the rainbow. And for many LGBT people all over the world it’s so powerful, so provocative. It’s a statement.

Me: Indeed. I realized that when I saw a kid in Uganda wrapped in the Rainbow flag and was sort of blown away by its reach.

Gilbert: Yes, people will risk their lives and their livelihoods to fight for change. Just as we did in Stonewall, just as other movements do, every day. And we have a long way to go. There are still kids being bullied, being subjected to “conversion therapy,” which I am glad the health care movement has spoken out against.

As is evident in the transcript above, which was edited due to length constraints, Baker’s history of agitating for social change serves as an important example for social workers today. His tenacity, courage, and willingness to sacrifice for his ideals will no doubt inspire future generations of social workers to stand up for what they know to be true. Gilbert Baker died in his sleep on March 31st of 2017. He had previously suffered a stroke. It was a tremendous privilege to have this good friend and tremendous activist in my life for so many years. As we all posted, Rest in Protest!

Gilbert Baker’s obituary may be found at the following link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/us/ obituary-gilbert-baker-rainbow-flag.html?_r=0

8. The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) MY HISTORY OF “CHANGE” AT PENN By Jeffrey N Jin, ACSW

I first came to the University of Pennsylvania as a student in 1992 only to find myself still studying here 25 years later, although in a much different context. Throughout my time as an undergraduate, a woman named Kathy Change protested outside of the Van Pelt library. I first heard her loud chanting (though it took me years to figure out what her words were) while she beat on a drum.

Kathy spun in circles and danced to her self-made percussive beats. I took notice of her bizarre clothing; in warm weather she wore only nude-colored panties and a bra while in colder temperatures she added long underwear beneath this same attire. She was so ubiquitous that she became part of Penn’s campus along with the breathtaking architecture, multiple public sculptures, and food trucks surrounding the perimeter. I would talk with fellow students who also viewed her daily protests as a form of bizarre entertainment. If there was no rain or snow, Kathy would exhibit numerous cardboard signs with handwritten etchings that were hard to decipher. One spring day in my senior year, I stopped to truly try to read her signs in order to gain a better understanding of her protests. I was able to make out her written fears of war, predatory capitalism, and human rights abuses, though I still could not understand the connections of these themes to her songs and dances.

My views were seemingly shared by many members of Penn’s community and utter shock struck us when Kathy Change committed suicide on Tuesday, October 22, 1996. She wrote several suicide notes in the form of letters to a handful of students with whom she conversed about her protests. That day, she set herself on fire symbolically by the peace sign in front of Van Pelt library while dozens of bystanders watched in confused terror. The officer who put out the flames did not even realize that an actual person was on fire; he thought that an object was being burned illegally in a demonstration until the flames were extinguished and he saw Kathy’s charred body (Hammer, 1996). She died at the scene.

My undergraduate self never even contemplated her suicidal ideation and perhaps only understood hints of mental instability. At the time of her death, I was only two months into my MSW education at the then Penn School of Social Work (now SP2). Her death shocked me not only from the flashy violence of her method, but at the thought that she did not feel any other way to be heard. How could this happen? Why didn’t anyone see warning signs? Were her bizarre protests a call for help that were just ignored? Years later as a social worker and doctoral student, I find myself looking at the connection between mental illness, social stigmatization and suicidal ideation. On college campuses, free expression is sought and encouraged. While I certainly do not frown upon this in any way, I wonder whether a lack of interpersonal linkages on college campuses might lead youth to ignore possible warning signs of mental instability? As an undergraduate, I was like many other students in that I was focused on my own academic and professional goals. I did not pay attention to Kathy Change’s now obvious frustrations at not being heard. Her outlandish behavior did not signal warnings of mental illness to me nor to the larger community, but they were indeed present. Why does it take so much to be heard?

In recent years, the Penn community has been stricken with multiple student suicides. Penn has greatly expanded the availability of mental health and peer support services but I propose an additional psychosocial cultural change: can the basic elements of empathy and active listening associated with social work be disseminated to the entire college community?

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The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) 9. MY HISTORY OF “CHANGE” AT PENN By Jeffrey N Jin, ACSW Continued From Page 9

I am not proposing that students from each school at Penn migrate to SP2 - rather, I am suggesting that we as social workers can help other students to become more attuned to others just like we strive to be with our clients. I can’t go back in time to change the actions of my younger self but find myself dedicated to addressing the needs of people who fear that they are not heard. Kathy Change did not know me, but her legacy has impacted my professional self in helping me to understand that I need to always look and listen to others in need in order to respond soon enough to connect them with the help they need.

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An Image to Bring Calm at the End of the Semester by the daughter of a member of the 2016 cohort

The Clinician provides UPenn DSW students and alumni an opportunity to highlight their work, research, and thinking as it relates to direct practice and leadership in the social work profession. We encourage submission of articles that encompass social work values, are innovative and creative, and represent a wide range of clinical paradigms and techniques. We also encourage submission of essays and reflections that are relevant to clinical practice and leadership in social work.

To view previous issues of The Clinician click on the following link - www.sp2.upenn.edu/publications/the-clinician/?pubview=true

Click on any of the hyperlinks in this issue of The Clinician to be taken directly to the site

10. The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) SEAS OF CHANGE By Donna M. Wampole, LCSW

When I first conceptualized an interview with Dr. John L. Jackson, Jr., Dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, so much was occurring in our nation. We were a country readying to decide our next Commander- in-Chief while continuing to struggle with tense race relations, incidences of police brutality, protests and social action regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline, Transgender rights, and more. John L. Jackson, Jr., PhD Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice

Then the Presidential election of November 8th came and went, stunning many across the nation and the world. January’s inauguration and ensuing demonstrations, including the Women’s March and later break-out protests regarding the first of two travel bans, moved forward. In short, the shared voices of citizen dissenters moved to promote unity and care. So now, having found our social worker profession, our clients, and cohorts of social work students awash in a sea of changes, I broached my interview with Dr. Jackson not just from a lens of racial justice, but from one of overall national change.

I began by asking Dean Jackson how the election and ensuing radical changes of the Trump administration compare to the history of national change he has witnessed in his varied roles of social activist, educator, and citizen. Dr. Jackson shared his journey of emotions, akin with the emotional journeys of so many. However, he quickly spoke to the University’s commitment to communicating on the change in the Presidential administration, no matter what party: “I think, like everyone else, I’m still trying to figure out where we are and what is happening. One of the ways in which we have been trying to think of this [election change], as a school, is to say our responsibility, no matter who is in office, remains the same. We knew we were going to launch, for instance, our massive open online course linked to the new President’s first 100 days before we knew who that President would be.” Dean Jackson went on to share that SP2’s mission is developing attunement to new themes and areas of concern brought forth by the new administration and to remember that “…our focus doesn’t change and our job is to maintain the same kind of discipline and commitment we would have had no matter who was in office in the contemporary moment and to not be distracted by the media or by the other ways in which we might imagine ourselves to get tripped up by media-based hype or any of the decisions coming out of the executive office. Our job, especially, I feel, as an educational institution, remains the same, and in some ways it couldn’t be clearer than it is right now: to educate students to be as thoughtful, productive and evidence-grounded as possible in their professional lives.”

Given the transformation our nation predictably undergoes with every non-incumbent Presidential election, it was anticipated that change would be present this past January. However, the radical intensity of change coming from this administration was not one that most at SP2 anticipated. Thus, I inquired into the idea that the intensity of the administration’s belief system and the responding social policy needs might serve as “grist for the mill” for current and future social workers. Dean Jackson responded, “I definitely feel like when I speak to people, especially undergraduates, about what they want to do with their lives, I think a wide swath of them continue to be committed to issues of social policy and social justice.

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The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) 11. SEAS OF CHANGE By Donna M. Wampole, LCSW Continued From Page 11

I think you might be right; in a way, the more we have these open public conversations about the polarized nature of our cultural and the political moment, the more people are going to be thinking about the individuals left behind, marginalized, disparaged and displaced in contemporary society. I do feel as though many students have become even more aware of the extent to which people who aren’t already empowered, who don’t have a ton of resources, who aren’t already well-situated in institutional spaces are going to need other individuals to help them help themselves to create the kind of future they might want.”

A challenge shared by many in the Doctorate of Clinical Social Work program, especially those now attending courses almost entirely online, is the separation from our brick-and-mortar home base and the inability to commune directly with other students and professors to share concerns regarding the political climate change. Dean Jackson shared his experience with the reactions of those in attendance at the Caster Building. “I think probably the biggest indication of a kind of school-specific response has actually mostly been a function of all the ways students, in particular students working with vulnerable populations in and around the community, have been talking about how this election is reminding them of the importance of really being committed to the work they are doing in the world, and the fact that it matters not just academically, not just professionally for the careers that they want to have in the future, but it’s a life and death issue for the people they are working with in the community. That’s one of the areas where it’s clear students are taking all of their investment in the contemporary machinations of our political system and translating that into very purposeful attempts to make sure they’re thinking proactively about the lives and life chances of the folks they’re working with in the field.” It is this drive, experienced by Dean Jackson, and this realization of importance of commitment to clients and society on the part of all SP2 students, MSW, MSSP, DSW, and PhD, that we are experiencing a wave of critical change and increasing need of those we serve, which fuels us in our work and our professional aspirations.

Dean Jackson concluded by candidly sharing his emotions related to the SP2 community’s movement within this political change: “I’ve been so impressed by students, I think it’s sometimes taken us a while to get to that place [of highly motivated readiness to push onward], but now I feel quite a good proportion of our students are squarely in that mindset, and I think it’s a very healthy one that’s going to serve them well, but also serve their clients and the institutions that they work in. And none of that is to say that change is easy but it’s our job to give our students the theoretical, conceptual, and practical knowledge, experience and education they need to feel equipped to be really effective members of a larger conversation about these significant social issues.”

Change is not easy. We as social workers and social work educators know that discomfort is a precursor to change. Perhaps this election and the challenges it has brought, while disheartening or angering at times, is also a catalyst to urge us to do more. Perhaps it is a direct sign of a need in our community, in our nation, and in ourselves to dig deeper, to speak more adamantly, to engage in challenging discussions, and to advocate for the needs and rights of others as a means of bringing healing and integrity, for all.

12. The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) A Tongue-in-Cheek Guide to Zoom Etiquette

• Use chat function wisely and with discretion. • All pets must make at least one distracting appearance per class. • Is your microphone on? Did you WANT it to be on? • Just because your screen is off doesn’t mean we can’t all still hear you….. • Please maintain a fully-clothed appearance. • Please alert the professor in a timely fashion if you are unable to see an intended screenshare. • Please keep safety belts fastened when seated. • Make sure your cliques still click with other cliques from time to time. • Good lighting is the key to a good class. • If the professor asks a question, give a gentle reminder to him/her to place Zoom on gallery view so that raised hands can actually be…..seen.

Clinical Doctor of Social Work 2016 Graduates

From top left: Noah Kass, Jim Joseph, Gillian Murray, Chelsea Toth, Marrisa Miller Nero, Marissa Kahn From bottom left: Meg Myers, Sylvie Demers, Sarah Wichman, Meagan Corrado, Vance Patrick

The Clinician Volume 6: Issue 1 (Winter-Spring, 2017) 13. MY HISTORY OF “CHANGE” AT PENN By Jeffrey N Jin, ACSW Continued From Page 10

Reference: Hammer, B. (1996, October 23). Local activist kills herself on college green. The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved from http://www.thedp.com

Websites: www.archives.upenn.edu www.kathychange.com

While submissions of all kinds are always welcome, the editors would like to provide special encouragement for readers to submit responses to the above piece. The weight of this issue is so great that we hope to continue exploring ways in which we as social workers can have a positive impact on those around us on Penn’s campus. ALUMNI NEWS

Carly Goldberg, Class of 2012 is now the Associate Director of a new initiative, Audacious Hospitality, at the Union for Reform Judaism. Find more about their work at the following link: http://www.urj.org/ what-we-do/audacious-hospitality. Goldberg is using the research and work from her dissertation on global critical race feminism in the pursuit of honoring the diversity of the Jewish people and ensuring full inclusion and transformation of Jewish communal life. Follow this link for a recent blog post she wrote: http://www.urj.org/blog/2017/03/20/why-and-how-should-we-embrace-audacious-hospitality. The blog post was written prior to launching a toolkit, “a how-to guide” to practice Audacious Hospitality. Goldberg notes that none of this would have been possible without her doctoral work at SP2.

Michael M. Crocker, Class of 2015 was recently named the co-chair of the New York State Society of Clinical Social Worker’s LGBTQ Task Force. The Task Force has been formed to provide a forum for clinicians to meet and communicate for the purpose of advancing knowledge about the LGBTQ community in our clinical social work community. Additionally, he is presenting for the NASW Addictions Conference June 21st, 2017 on treating men with Out of Control Sexual Behavior through the use of combined individual and group treatment. He provided this workshop for the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society in Fall 2016. Lastly, he has become an approved provider of continuing education for LMSW’s and LCSW’s.

Janeen Cross, Class of 2015 is currently the 2016-2017 Health Education and Leadership Scholar (HEALS) post-doc fellowship recipient for NASW. For more information please follow this link: http://bit. ly/2mFOOct

Marissa Kahn, Class of 2016 recently had a poster presentation entitled “Risk and Protective Factors Explaining First Year College Adjustment” at the 21st Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) held in New Orleans, LA.

Rumyana Kudeva, Class of 2015 accepted a tenure track assistant professor of social work position at Eastern Washington University last fall. Kudeva is also presenting her dissertation research in May at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in Urbana, IL (http://icqi.org/) and presenting on Mothering and motherliness of immigrant women at the 2017 Galway, Ireland Conference of MIRCI (http:// motherhoodinitiative.org/conferences/).

Pamela Szczygiel, Class of 2015 began a tenure track faculty position in the department of social work at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in August 2016.